About

R. Alta Charo is an Emerita Professor of Law and Bioethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with a distinguished career focused on biotechnology regulatory policy, ethics, and emerging genetic therapies. She holds a B.A. in Biology from Harvard University and a J.D. from Columbia University School of Law. Her professional work includes serving as a national and international consultant on biotechnology policy, with advisory roles in government and professional societies. She has been appointed to various prestigious committees, including the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, where she serves on the board of the Life Sciences and Biotechnology Program and the Standing Committee on Advances and National Security Implications of Transdisciplinary Biotechnology. Charo has also chaired studies on autonomous biosurveillance and augmented cognition for the Department of Defense's DARPA. Her extensive service includes membership on the Institute of Medicine, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and the German Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina). She has contributed to policy development, including drafting the National Academies' Guidelines for Embryonic Stem Cell Research and co-chairing the Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research Advisory Committee. Her research interests encompass bioethics, biotechnology policy, emerging technology policy, drug safety, medical research, reproductive rights, and bioterrorism. Charo has authored over 150 articles, book chapters, and government reports, and has served on numerous boards and advisory committees related to genetics, stem cell research, and bioethics. She has also been involved in teaching courses on public health law, bioethics, biotechnology law, and related fields, and has served as a visiting lecturer and professor internationally.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Cognitive science
• Genetics
• Public relations
• Computational biology
• Psychology
• Biology

Selected publications

• Governing with public engagement: an anticipatory approach to human genome editing

  Science and Public Policy · 2024 · 9 citations

  • Political Science
  • Computational biology
  • Biology

  In response to calls for public engagement on human genome editing (HGE), which intensified after the 2018 He Jiankui scandal that resulted in the implantation of genetically modified embryos, we detail an anticipatory approach to the governance of HGE. By soliciting multidisciplinary experts' input on the drivers and uncertainties of HGE development, we developed a set of plausible future scenarios to ascertain publics values-specifically, their hopes and concerns regarding the novel technology and its applications. In turn, we gathered a subset of multidisciplinary experts to propose governance recommendations for HGE that incorporate identified publics' values. These recommendations include: (1) continued participatory public engagement; (2) international harmonization and transparency of multiple governance levers such as professional and scientific societies, funders, and regulators; and (3) development of a formal whistleblower framework.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Intended consequences statement

  Conservation Science and Practice · 2021 · 15 citations

  • Philosophy
  • Epistemology

  Source Agritrop Cirad (https://agritrop.cirad.fr/605797/)

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• ISSCR Guidelines for Stem Cell Research and Clinical Translation: The 2021 update

  Stem Cell Reports · 2021 · 343 citations

  • Biology
  • Engineering ethics
  • Biotechnology

  The International Society for Stem Cell Research has updated its Guidelines for Stem Cell Research and Clinical Translation in order to address advances in stem cell science and other relevant fields, together with the associated ethical, social, and policy issues that have arisen since the last update in 2016. While growing to encompass the evolving science, clinical applications of stem cells, and the increasingly complex implications of stem cell research for society, the basic principles underlying the Guidelines remain unchanged, and they will continue to serve as the standard for the field and as a resource for scientists, regulators, funders, physicians, and members of the public, including patients. A summary of the key updates and issues is presented here.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Hervé Chneiweiss

  Neurosciences Paris-Seine

  5 shared

• Janet Rossant

  Hospital for Sick Children

  3 shared

• Manar Zaghlula

  University of California, Berkeley

  2 shared

• Cynthia Selin

  Arizona State University

  2 shared

• Mahmud Farooque

  Institute for the Future

  2 shared

• David H. Guston

  Institute for the Future

  2 shared

• Duanqing Pei

  University of Science and Technology of China

  2 shared

• Jeffrey Kahn

  2 shared

Awards & honors

• Adam Yarmolinsky Medal for service to the Institute of Medic…
• Elected member of the World Technology Network (2004)
• Elected member of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts an…
• Elected to the National Academies' Institute of Medicine (20…
• Elected to the American Association for the Advancement of S…

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